4BETTER OR WORSE- The week in review
Most ominous sign: UVA bans signs at all athletic events, and many wonder if the prohibition was inspired by David Becker's "Fire Groh" sign at a football game last year. Brian McNeill has the story in the Daily Progress.
Most ominous sign, part 2: UVA kidney expert Dr. Alaa Awad, who's done research at the university for seven years, is denied a green card and work visa, according to another McNeill story. Coincidentally, Awad is an Egyptian Muslim who sued Homeland Security and immigration for permission to work at UVA in 2007, which he needed to accept a $1 million NIH grant.
Most vicious: A white-spotted black pit bull on Fairway Avenue bites a woman twice in the leg while she's on a morning walk August 17, the DP reports.
Most revisionist: Two days later, the bitten woman reveals that it was her own dog that chomped her, and she may be facing charges of filing a false report.
First frat shenanigans of the season: Thirteen road-tripping Theta Delta Chi pledges are arrested August 20 and charged with trespassing for breaking into a Union College fraternity in Schenectady, NY, NBC29 reports. The UVA students allegedly caused $2,000 in damage, which included urinating on two sofas.
Second best public university... again: For the fifth straight year, U.S. News & World Report ranks UVA second in its best public schools list, and 23rd overall.
Rowdiest court appearance: Mark Wayne Shifflett, 46, picks up contempt of court, assault, and obstruction of justice charges when he attacks a witness in Albemarle General District Court August 21, WINA reports. Shifflett was in court on a credit card theft charge, not to be confused with the multiple-jurisdiction burglary ring charges he's facing with Ronald Lee Morris, 46.
Best public records case: A federal judge rules that Virginia's law prohibiting posting of Social Security numbers– even if they're taken from government websites available to the public– is unconstitutional. The law targeted privacy advocate B.J. Ostergren, who has posted the SSNs of public officials taken off government sites in hopes of prodding them to remove such personal information.
Worst alleged embezzling: The Greene County Youth Center's former treasurer, Heather Eve Gallimore, 35, is charged with 10 felony counts for alleged forgery and embezzlement, WINA reports.
Worst fall: A three-year-old tumbles from a second-floor window at Hearthwood Apartments on Michie Drive around 6:13pm August 21, according to WINA. Police say the fall occurred when the boy pushed against a window screen that gave way. Amazingly, he suffered only minor injuries.
Latest Monticello expansion: The Thomas Jefferson Foundation buys 29 acres known as the Hartman tract for $500,000 to preserve land around Monticello and expand trails, the DP reports.
Biggest shift: Charlottesville's black population declines by 756 over the past seven years, while Albemarle County's grows by 757, according to estimates from the U.S. Census. Stephanie Kassab has the story in the Progress.
Driest: With groundwater levels critically low, the county warns well users to conserve like crazy.
Heaviest: Albemarle police crack down on overweight trucks August 21 on Seminole Trail near Camelot Drive using a mobile weigh station. Twenty commercial vehicles are put on the scales, and five get citations for weighing too much, a total of $725 in fines. Fourteen of the 20 trucks rack up 53 violations, four are taken out of service, and one driver didn't have a valid commercial driver's license.
Most manna from heaven: The hungry Thomas Jefferson Area Food Bank gets 2,200 pounds of food from the under-renovation Seminole Square Giant, which needed to move the unexpired food, according to the Progress.
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